TIC sees market normalising in February

The Truck Industry Council (TIC) points to a combination of factors affecting the comparatively modest commercial vehicle growth rate in February.

TIC indicates any feelings of disappointment may need to be tempered.

"The market is starting to normalise after better than expected sales in January," TIC CEO Tony McMullan says.

"The good January result was likely due to the fulfilling of December 2018 orders that were delayed due to vehicle supply issues, body builder backlogs and the short working month due to the festive season.

"After January’s sales were known, I cautioned about reading too much into those numbers.

"The combination of January and February sales shows the market tracking down on the record sales of last year, however the result is the third best start to a year on record.

"I believe that due to the volatility seen in the first two months of this year we will have to wait another month, or two, before we can truly gain a sense of where the Australian heavy commercial vehicle market may track in 2019."

Contrasting last month’s shortfall compared with January and the previous February, TIC highlights the struggle of vans and light-duty trucks so far this year, describing it as "a particularly slow start to the year" for their sector of the market.

Total van sales in February were 444, down 11.7 per cent, or 59 units, for the month.

The poor February sales, on the back of a slow start in January, have impacted the year-to-date numbers in the van segment, which is now 5.8 per cent (-52 vans) behind the sales to the end of February 2018.

A total of 840 LDVs have been delivered in 2019, this compares to 892 delivers to the end of February 2018.